The purpose of a concept sketch is to outline a specific designand indicate how the design problem is to be solved.

They are called “concept” sketches because the drawing shouldconvey ideas about how to solve the problem, but they do notinvolve the level of detail or thought that goes into final(production) drawings.

They are “sketches” because mechanical engineers buildphysical devices and pictures are better at capturing informationthan words.

Nobody wants to figure out a device by reading a lengthydescription; they want to look at a drawing.

Concept sketches are used at the beginning of the designprocess to quickly explore different ideas and to narrow downthe search for a workable solution.

The ideal concept sketch contains no words.

Simply by looking at it, the reader should understand everythingabout the design problem and how the concept solves theproblem.